The last time Liberty played Ball State, the Flames were still an FCS program trying to prove they could compete with the big boys.
A lot has changed since then.
Liberty and Ball State will meet Saturday at Williams Stadium for just the second time in program history. The first meeting came nearly 16 years ago, on Sept. 11, 2010, when the Flames traveled to Muncie, Indiana, and pulled off one of the biggest wins in program history.
Liberty rallied late to defeat Ball State, 27-23, marking just the second victory over an FBS opponent in school history. At the time, it was a landmark victory. Now, with Liberty preparing to face Ball State as an FBS program and a member of Conference USA, that game provides an interesting reminder of just how much the Flames have changed.
A comeback in Muncie
Liberty entered the 2010 matchup 1-0 after opening the season with a 52-7 victory over St. Francis. Ball State was an FBS program from the Mid-American Conference, and the Cardinals entered the game 1-0. The Flames didn’t look intimidated.
Liberty jumped out to a 14-3 halftime lead, with quarterback Mike Brown throwing a 21-yard touchdown pass to Chris Summers during an opening 79-yard scoring drive. Brown later added another touchdown on the ground.
But Ball State fought back. The Cardinals scored 17 points in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter. Ball State would take a lead early in the 4th with a 21-yard field goal, battling all the way back to a 23-21 lead. Liberty had watched a 14-3 advantage disappear, but the Flames weren’t finished.
With just under five minutes remaining, Brown scored on a one-yard touchdown run to put Liberty back in front, 27-23.
Ball State still had an opportunity. The Cardinals drove into Liberty territory, but the Flames’ defense came up with the defining play of the afternoon. With Ball State facing fourth-and-two, Liberty’s Asa Chapman sacked quarterback Keith Wenning, ending the threat and essentially sealing the victory.
It was much bigger than one win
The significance of that victory can’t really be measured simply by looking at the final score. Liberty had defeated an FBS team for only the second time in program history. The first came all the way back in 1989, when the Flames defeated Eastern Michigan, 25-24. The Ball State victory was the first FBS win Liberty had recorded in 21 years. And it came during a season when FCS programs were making national headlines. On the same day Liberty defeated Ball State, James Madison upset Virginia Tech, 21-16, and Gardner-Webb stunned Akron, 38-37.
But for Liberty, the Ball State victory represented something more. It was evidence that the Flames could compete with an FBS program.
Liberty’s players were greeted by fans at Lynchburg Regional Airport at 1:30 a.m. after the team returned from Indiana. The Flames were also ranked in the national top 15 in both major FCS polls following the victory. At that point, Liberty was still trying to establish itself as a legitimate national FCS program. The program was not yet FBS. There was no Conference USA. There was no New Year’s Six bowl. There was no nationally ranked FBS team playing in Williams Stadium.
All of that was still ahead.
The climb began long before Liberty moved to FBS
The 2010 victory came during Danny Rocco’s tenure, and the program was already trending upward. Rocco’s 2010 senior class would go on to post a 34-11 record over four seasons, which Liberty’s official history still identifies as the best four-year run in program history. Liberty eventually won the Big South championship again and continued building the infrastructure and expectations necessary to take the next step.
That next step came in 2018, when Liberty began its transition to the FBS level. By 2019, the Flames were fully bowl eligible. And the program didn’t simply survive the transition. It thrived.
Liberty won the 2019 Cure Bowl in its first season of bowl eligibility, then followed that with a remarkable 10-1 season in 2020. That 2020 team became the first Liberty team to earn a national ranking, defeated Syracuse and Virginia Tech, beat a ranked Coastal Carolina team in the Cure Bowl and finished No. 17 in the final AP poll.
The Flames were no longer simply an FCS program capable of occasionally upsetting an FBS opponent. They were an FBS program capable of beating established FBS teams.
From the Ball State upset to a New Year’s Six
The biggest transformation came after Liberty joined Conference USA in 2023. In Jamey Chadwell’s first season, the Flames went 12-0 during the regular season, including a perfect 8-0 record in conference play. Liberty then defeated New Mexico State, 49-35, to win its first-ever FBS conference championship. That victory sent Liberty to its first New Year’s Six bowl game as the highest ranked Group of Five conference champion.
The Flames played No. 8 Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, marking a moment that would have been difficult to imagine back in 2010 when Liberty was celebrating a four-point victory at Ball State. The 2023 season ended 13-1, Liberty’s first undefeated regular season and the first time the program had reached the 13-win mark. The Flames finished No. 25 in the final AP poll. In other words, the program had gone from celebrating its second-ever FBS victory to winning an FBS conference championship and playing in a New Year’s Six bowl in the span of 13 years. That’s quite a transformation.
Now Liberty is the FBS program
That’s what makes Saturday’s game so interesting. When Liberty traveled to Muncie in 2010, the Flames were the underdog FCS program trying to prove they belonged on the same field with an FBS opponent. This time, Liberty is the favored FBS program.
The Flames are hosting Ball State at Williams Stadium as part of their 2026 nonconference schedule, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. Liberty is now entering its fourth season as a Conference USA member, while Ball State remains a member of the MAC. The Cardinals have gone through their own struggles in recent years, including five consecutive losing seasons entering 2026 following their 7-1 COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
And Liberty’s road since that night in Muncie hasn’t been perfectly straight. The Flames are coming off a disappointing 4-8 season in 2025 and enter Saturday’s game 1-1 after opening the season with a 20-13 loss at James Madison before surviving Gardner-Webb, 24-23. But the larger picture remains undeniable.
Sixteen years later, the roles have changed
Back in 2010, Liberty needed a late touchdown and a fourth-down defensive stop to knock off Ball State. It was a program-defining moment because Liberty was still trying to establish itself. Sixteen years later, the significance of the matchup is almost the opposite.
Liberty doesn’t need to prove that it can compete with an FBS program anymore. It is an FBS program.
The Flames have played in multiple bowl games, defeated ACC opponents, beaten ranked FBS teams, won a conference championship, produced NFL talent and played in a New Year’s Six bowl. The 27-23 victory in Muncie was one of the wins that helped build the belief that Liberty could eventually become what it is today.
Now Ball State comes to Lynchburg. And for the first time, Liberty will welcome the Cardinals to Williams Stadium as an established FBS program. That’s the real story behind this week’s matchup.
Sixteen years ago, Liberty went to Ball State looking to prove it belonged. Saturday, Ball State comes to Liberty. A lot has changed since that night in Muncie.
